Better responsiveness is good, the ability to perform a post-match beatdown is a nice touch if you want to play the heel full-tilt. Nothing about the often cheap AI though, which remains my biggest frustration with recent WWE games.

I'll likely go ahead and pre-order, though I'm not sure I'll double-dip on PC in a few month's time, unless I really like the game and there's some good DLC that'd be cheaper to pick up in the form of a "definitive" PC version.

I like how the game is already outdated with the brand split and new arenas for both shows, which is understandable given the time the brand split was done. Yet I wish that the devs would give time and create updates for the game.

It's unfortunate, but inevitable giving how late in the development cycle the brand split came into effect. It would've been nice if it could've been somehow accounted for, but they've got their deadlines, after all.

Finally got around to playing the game today. A few initial impressions:

GOOD

Gameplay is very fun for the most part. It's possible to have some good back and forth for some epic matches.

Being able to attack during entrances and deliver post-match beatdowns is awesome.

Some of the random run-ins really make it feel like a WWE show. While trying to beatdown Sheamus with Brock Lesnar after winning a match, Undertaker ran in, chokeslammed him and delivered the Tombstone. I could've fought him off, but I kind of just let it happen, as it felt more fun, and reminded me of their feud last year.

Run-ins can happen on both sides during the same match. Managers and run-ins can help out with timely distractions, and can also get ejected.

The presentation is probably the best it's ever been, from entrances to title match introductions and camera cuts.

The expanded Creations and editing suite is fantastic. The only thing missing is Create-a-Finisher.

They've taken an old school approach to unlockables, where you purchase them with in-game currency, in any order you like.

You're given 200,000 VC right out of the gate to unlock a few things. With a five star rating, you can earn up to around 9000 VC for a single match.

It's a pretty deep and comprehensive roster of current wrestlers, and big names from the 80s and 90s.

You can have multiple managers, which is cool for a stable like the Wyatt Family.

Incidentally, when you pick another member of the Wyatt family and have the rest of the stable accompany him, Bray leads them to the ring. Again, there's a lot of authenticity in the presentation.

BAD

AI is still very cheap at times. It's possible to beat the hell out of your opponent, only to have them kick out, come back, hit a couple of moves and their finisher, and be left in a situation where it's virtually impossible to kick out (and you probably won't). They also escape submission holds rather easily. You'll suffer some ridiculous losses this way.

There' seems to be an issue when you back out to the title screen from the main menu and the game has trouble connecting to the server, which results in the main menu taking ages to load. Because it's easy enough to back out too far when navigating the menus, it's rather annoying.

Still no importing of custom music for created wrestlers. It could be to avoid licensing issues at this point, especially in terms of getting the files into the game, but I do miss it. The selection of generic music is OK, but still not great.

Aside from the wrestlers walking across the screen, the main menu isn't very visually appealing. It's a fairly clean design and easy to use (the aforementioned issue aside), but it looks kind of...beta? Placeholder? Plain? It's not a huge deal, but it's not quite up to the rest of the presentation.

IN THE MIDDLE/OTHER OBSERVATIONS

The lack of a Showcase this year makes the game a little light on single player modes. There's WWE Universe and MyCAREER, which should satisfy most people and be fun enough, but it feels like there should be a bit more.

It's a shame the brand split happened too late to be reflected in the game, though you could certainly set it up in WWE Universe, especially with the Create-a-Championship function.

There's an option for "Gameplay Manual" in the main menu that just tells you to check out the full manual online. To me that feels pretty useless, but I guess it's a handy reminder for anyone who doesn't realise they can find it there.

What a great roster of wrestlers. Seeming perfect minus Owen Hart. Cool to see the whole Hart Foundation together, plus Nattie & Kidd. Plus, you can finally play as Bret vs Goldberg and give him a mule kick for revenge. Also, cool to see Curtis Axel able to be teamed up with his father Mr. Perfect who was one of my favorite wrestlers of all time. 01 Jericho is a nice touch who was also one of my favorites.

As much as 2K loves to get the little details in the game, some entrances were mostly right with a few minor differences, probably due to animation limitations or simply just how they mo capped it. I read TJ Perkins actually did some of the mo cap for them, so maybe they'll have his moves in the game? Maybe a DLC down the line? I could see them doing a Cruiserweight DLC

I've kind of been the same way with a couple of recent iterations of the game. The lack of a Showcase in this year's game does remove some incentive to keep playing, but I just started a WWE Universe game and had some fun booking shows and setting up feuds, so that's what might keep the game in the rotation this year.

I hope they fixed the "save failed" issue which I encountered again for a second time in 2K16. Read somewhere that was an issue since 2K15. What I don't understand about their auto save system is that why it erases everything when it failed to save when the proper logic is to attempt to save again on the next auto save point.

Also read somewhere that there's an 11GB day one patch. I hope that included new entrance animations some superstars *cough* Sasha *cough*.

I mentioned that above. Oddly enough, when I paused the update and restarted it to try and speed up the download, it started a brand new download of a 7 GB update. So it looks like the Day 1 patch is 7 GB, similar to the recent NBA 2K17 updates.

WWE Universe mode kind of lets you do that. You can sim the matches if you so desire, while setting up feuds, managing the titles, and so on. It is meant to be played more than simmed, but a sim function is there.

I'd say that I like it more, but as I said, the lack of a Showcase does detract from the experience somewhat. I still find that the AI is a bit cheesy, probably not significantly better than the last couple of games, but certainly no worse. The promo system that's in WWE Universe and MyCAREER is pretty cool.

Yeah, 2K15 had a Showcase as well. The Creation Suite is probably the best it's ever been; the only thing missing is Create-a-Finisher. My biggest gripes are probably that selecting hair and eye colours is a bit of a chore, since you need to manually set the hue. That should be an option of course, but there aren't any default presets for eye colours and common hair colours. That's how it's always been though, so I'm not too surprised. Overall, it's pretty comprehensive.

Console. The PC version always comes out much later, usually with all the DLC of the Season Pass for PS4 and X1. I have double-dipped with the PC version, but I haven't actually checked out the modding scene. As I understand it though, the only tools cost money.

I don't know if I'd go so far as to say it's a must-buy. I feel like it's the best of the current generation and I'm certainly quite satisfied with it, but it might not stand up to everyone's scrutiny. Definitely some legacy issues there.

What would be your biggest complaints and pet peeves with the series to date?

It's been three or four years since I really played it all that much; it's a bit hard to remember. Difficulty and match length are the two that really stuck out - it was either way too easy to win or impossible to win, and either way matches were generally over in about three minutes each.

It also gets pretty dull after a while, just match after match. Universe seems like it's improved a lot in that regard. The lack of creation suite really bothered me last year, and I think they removed a lot of the ability to alter rules and things as well. I loathe escape-only cage matches, and I used to set all my cage matches to pin/submit only. My triple-threats were always elimination, etc. I could put time limits on, and it had the 'normal/epic' setting that meant some matches actually approached that limit.

I also had Universe set up with a custom ROH show in that tiny little custom arena, with the 2006-era ROH ring and custom ROH championships, none of which was doable in 2k15. Still can't really be done all that well with custom music still not a feature. I even had it modded to have custom titantrons. TBH that and the Action Replay era are the two I've used the most.

I've had matches last longer than three minutes. They can be somewhat competitive at times, but there's still that element of them either being too easy, or the AI is impossibly cheap and scores a ridiculous upset win after you've beaten the hell out of them all match, thanks to a few reversals and a finisher out of nowhere. You'd be able to have your own ROH shows in WWE Universe with created arenas, belts, and videos, though as you noted, no custom music.

Have they brought back the feature from WWE 13 where you could toggle between three match modes? I think one was 'epic', not sure what the other two were, but they basically altered how much damage you had to do to win, which significantly lengthened matches.

Yep, I forgot to mention that I did edit my sliders to max out Finisher damage (and weapon damage), which helps with the quicker matches......so the default option and a slower momentum gain should make for longer matches for you.